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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314044">Parting Ways</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elendiliel/pseuds/Elendiliel'>Elendiliel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Lightning Strikes [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Planet Onderon (Star Wars), Post-Order 66 (Star Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 09:07:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29314044</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elendiliel/pseuds/Elendiliel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Since that first, long-ago mission, Lightning Squadron have become so much more than a strike team. They're a family, even after exile, captivity and even, for one, temporary death. But no family can remain spatially close forever. One member of this one has received an invitation to rejoin his other unit, the Bad Batch. His sister and former commander must help him realise where his true path lies, and follow it - however hard it may be for either of them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Lightning Strikes [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087898</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Parting Ways</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28745703">Briefest Respite</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooBusyWriting/pseuds/TooBusyWriting">TooBusyWriting</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>While part of this has been incubating for some time, other elements were inspired by the fic above. I may have toned the emotions down a bit.</p><p>I hoped that this would be sufficient to align my continuity with <em>The Bad Batch</em>. I now know it isn't, and therefore have no idea how much time has passed since Order 66. No more than a few years, I think.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You wanted to speak to me?”</p><p>Helli Abbasa, no longer a Republic General since the fall of said Republic, wondered briefly why she was being so formal with her brother. Perhaps it was the tone of Echo’s message a few minutes before, asking to talk to her when she had a moment. They’d both been in yet another rowdy strategy meeting for Onderon’s rebellion against the Empire when a transmission had come through for Echo, and he’d accepted it here in the bedroom he shared with their brothers. Ten minutes later, he’d called her commlink. He had said it wasn’t urgent, but she’d known him too long not to realise that something was amiss, and not just about the transmission. She had made her excuses and gone to find him right away.</p><p>“Yes, at some point, but shouldn’t you be in the meeting still?”</p><p>“Oh, Fives and Spark can handle it. And there’s only so much Gerrera I can take in one go. One of these days I really will lose my temper with that man.” The semi-joke lessened the tension somewhat as, responding to his non-verbal invitation, she came over and perched beside Echo on his bed. “What was that transmission about, and from whom?”</p><p>“Hunter.” Echo named the only member of his other unit, Clone Force 99, known as the Bad Batch, who could pass for sane for any length of time. “They’ve been demobilised like nearly everyone else, but you know them.” Hel did. All too well. “They’re planning on following our lead – staying together, still fighting, but not part of any army.” He braced himself for what she already knew he had to say. “They want me back.”</p><p>“Do you want to go? Be honest.” Hel put a touch of her teacher-voice into the command.</p><p>Echo looked as conflicted as his Force-presence told her he was. “Yes, but I’m also needed here, and I don’t want to leave you and the others.” The others being Fives, Spark and Helli’s six apprentices. The ten of them had formed a strange but tightly knit family.</p><p>Hel slipped her hand into his organic one and squeezed it reassuringly. “Do you remember what I said, before we left for Alba?”</p><p>Of course he did. His memory had been good even before Tambor started tampering with it. “If you feel your path leads elsewhere, don’t hesitate to follow it. But you’re always telling the kids to put purpose before feelings.”</p><p>“In your case, it’s the same thing. Yes, you’re a major asset to this rebellion, but you’re not happy here, and you’re not at the top of your game as a result. Even Saw’s noticed, and he’s about as perceptive as a brick. I think you can do more good with the Bad Batch, and speaking for myself, I’d much rather you were happy elsewhere than here but miserable. Don’t worry about us; we’ll muddle through somehow.” She tried for a smile, and he attempted to match it.</p><p>“I do miss being out in the field with you. The way we used to be, before <em>this</em>.” He indicated the arm that terminated in a droid-style data spike. It and his other cybernetic enhancements stood out too much for him to join the rest of the team on missions, except under cover of darkness. They had considered getting it replaced with a normal prosthetic, but even if they had found a surgeon they trusted and the credits to pay for it, the current one was just too useful. “At least with the Bad Batch I don’t have to pretend to be normal. I know you, our brothers and the kids are OK with all this, but I’ve seen the way some of the others look at me.” She had seen it, too, and tried to have a quiet word with Gerrera about it, but he was as susceptible to hints as a droid is to alcohol.</p><p>“We’ve all changed. I’m hardly the bundle of nerves and theory I was when we met, and you and Fives aren’t exactly the cadets bickering your way through the Citadel challenge, or the shinies defending Rishi outpost, I remember hearing about.” She pressed on before he could ask how she knew about those events. The way she’d obtained the former piece of knowledge was a long, complicated story. “The children and I lost nearly everything in the Purge. I don’t like to <em>think</em> about what the Techno Union did to you. Fives <em>died</em>. Even Spark hasn’t had an easy time since we went renegade. War alters everything.” It also leaves scars that can’t be seen, and are hard to treat. Hel knew Fives disliked any operation that put him in mind of the circumstances of his first death, and he and Echo shared a horror of medical facilities. When they were injured, she patched them up herself, or Gungi did. Her Wookiee apprentice was turning out to be a remarkably good medic, though he mercifully hadn’t yet tried Force-healing. Spark still tensed up at any mention of the Empire or the Emperor, which made standing next to him at strategy meetings a trial. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d been woken up by a nightmare-plagued padawan. As for herself, when anyone tried to call her General, or treat her like a soldier, too often only her training stood between her and something she would regret.</p><p>“True. But if it hadn’t been for the war, we’d never have met. Without Sidious’ plots, I wouldn’t <em>exist</em>.” It was the paradox at the heart of their unit – their deadly enemy was also responsible for the clones’ lives, and for the events that had forged their friendship.</p><p>“Good always arises from evil, sooner or later. It doesn’t make the evil any less evil – or the good any less good. When I thought you were dead – that was one of the worst days of my life. At least if you rejoin the Bad Batch, I’ll know you’re alive, and doing what you’re meant to do.”</p><p>The shadow that crossed his face told her he’d half-forgotten why they were talking in the first place. “I’ll have to speak to the others. I wanted to tell you first. Talking to you or Torrent always used to help me get my thoughts in order and my priorities straight.” Now both their faces were shadowed as they considered their third surviving brother, so far away. Torrent was still in the army, ducking every attempt at demobilisation, and manoeuvring himself into positions from which he could feed information to his brothers and sister. “Hunter sent me coordinates for a rendezvous point in three days’ time. It’s not far, but getting off this planet might be a challenge.” Onderon wasn’t exactly besieged, but there were too many Star Destroyers in orbit for anyone’s liking.</p><p>“There’s a supply run due the day after tomorrow. Hondo might be able to give you a lift. Ask Kat to ask him.” Katooni was their liaison with Hondo Ohnaka, the rebels’ de facto quartermaster, and the only one who could keep him stable, let alone on-side. “If not, talk to Gani. She’s as good as he is now at dodging the blockade.” Ganodi’s piloting skills had grown exponentially since the rebellion had begun, and they’d been pretty good back then. Her modified Y-wing bomber could easily accommodate two organics and her droid. Helli was justly proud of her heart-daughters, though she knew she had little to do with their success.</p><p>“I will. Thank you.” He was smiling again, but there was sadness in it. “I think leaving is the right thing to do – the way you say you <em>know</em> things – but I’ll miss you all.”</p><p>“Oh, come here.” Hel wrapped her arms around Echo in the best hug their relative positions allowed. After everything he’d been through, she knew any contact with another person still felt both strange and remarkably pleasant, even a casual arm across his shoulders. He returned the embrace, each nearly endangering the other’s ribcage. The combination of natural and metal limbs had long since become almost too familiar. “The Force connects us all. In a sense, we won’t really be apart. Whatever happens, you’re my brother, and I love you.” She didn’t often say it out loud like that these days. His only response was a little more pressure on her chest and a single tear on her shoulder.</p><p>They stayed like that for a few more minutes, until Hel’s commlink interrupted them. Fives wanted her back in the conference room to break a strategic stalemate. Reluctantly, they disengaged from one another and headed towards the rest of their team. Hel let herself enjoy Echo’s presence beside her more than she usually did. While he would always be in her heart and vice versa, it would soon be time for them to part ways again, and it would hurt, though she had known it was coming for a while. At least this time round he would be still alive, and their paths would cross again, with any luck. Or rather, with the blessing of the Force.</p>
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